South Korean Chuseok Belief (Jeeseob Jung)
Title: South Korean Chuseok Superstition
General Information about Item:
- Material Folklore: South Korean Supersition – Chuseok
- Language: English
- Country of Origin: South Korea
- Informant: Jeeseob Jung
- Date Collected: May 24, 2019
Informant Data:
- Jeeseob is a female Dartmouth student in the class of 2020. She was born in South Korea and attended boarding school in the United States. Before school, Jeeseob lived in South Korea with her family. Her family still lives there and continues to practice the tradition we collected.
Contextual Data:
- Cultural Context: Chuseok is a very important tradition in South Korean culture. It occurs in mid-August and many individuals travel to be with their family to celebrate. Family plays a very important role, and it is believed that a connection must be made to both living and deceased family members to uphold the familial connection. The tradition stems from autumnal harvests, where the family would connect with their ancestors and celebrate the conclusion of the agriarian season.
- Social Context: The superstition was relayed through an in-person interview with the informant at Dartmouth College. The superstition is practiced by the informant and her famiy each fall.
Text and Texture
- Chuseok
추석
Chuseok
Chew-sok
Autumn Eve
Thanksgiving
Item:
Chuseok is celebrated by preparing a large feast for the family. However, before anyone can eat, the family must open the doors to allow their ancestoral spirits into the home. If one does not open the door, then the ancestors will be angry and is bad luck.
Audio File:
Transcript:
J: Jeeseob
S: Saif
S: All right, so you can start your name and a little bit about your background.
J: Okay. My name is Jeeseob Jang. I’m from South Korea, and I am currently a ’20, and I went to boarding school in the States. But before that I lived in Korea like for my entire life, I guess.
S: And are there any like, you know, superstitions you guys have or beliefs in like bad spirits or traditions you do to ward off bad luck?
J: I guess like during during Korean or Chinese New Year, or like that’s also when we celebrate Korean New Year, I guess. Like if you… so it’s basically just honoring your ancestors like every year, we have like a large feast, and we put out all the food, but before we eat it we have to like cut all the fruit a certain way and like kind of arrange all the different foods like in different sections and then you always have to open the door so that the ancestors can or like the spirits can kind of come in and like feast on the food before we do, and so if we don’t do that, it’s technically bad luck because the ancestors will get angry. And so you always have to make sure to do that.
S: Is there a name for this tradition?
J: It’s called chuseok. Okay. Yeah.
S: All right. Awesome. Thank you so much.
Informant’s Comments:
Family is a very important aspect of the tradition, since all members of the family need to be present. We open the door so the ancestors can come.
Collector’s Comments:
The opening of the door is an item of homeopathic magic, since the open door symbolizes the welcoming of spirits into the home for the family meal.
Collector’s Name: Saif Malley
Tags/Keywords:
- Customary Folklore
- South Korean Superstition
- Chuseok
- Law of Similarity